6. Michael Thomas will decline without Drew Brees
2020 was a year to forget for Michael Thomas. The New Orleans Saints were hoping for another run with Drew Brees, who is now retired, but they didn’t get as far as they hoped.
They also had a lot of bumps along the way as Brees missed four games — he also missed five the season before. With Brees out in 2020, New Orleans turned to Taysom Hill, which was a bit of a surprise since Jameis Winston was the No. 2 guy for most of the season.
New Orleans found success with Hill but Michael Thomas was a different player. Then again, he too dealt with injuries and his entire season wasn’t what was expected and he ended the year with zero touchdowns.
Yes, Thomas had some great moments with Hill starting including 104 yards in Week 10 and 105 in Week 12 but he still never crossed the goal line with Hill throwing him the ball. And now that Brees is gone and Hill could be the starter again — assuming he beats out Winston for a second time — which isn’t ideal for Thomas.
The fact is, Thomas fit Brees’ style of play perfectly. The two were both excellent in the slant game and timing was the key ingredient. Hill, on the other hand, is more unorthodox which doesn’t bode well for Thomas’s style of play.
He would do better with Winston, but New Orleans head coach Sean Payton seems to love Hill and will probably do all he can to run the offense through him. Which isn’t great for Thomas.